Founded by Edward Bayard Heath in 1926 as an aircraft company, Heathkit shifted its focus to electronics
after World War II when it bought surplus electronic parts to build kits. Heathkit left the kit business in
1992, focusing on educational materials, then announced it was getting back into the kit business in 2011.

However, it was losing the educational business faster than it could grow the electronics business, which
was not sustainable, according to owner Don Desrochers.